Human rights groups from several ethnic groups in California recently held a demonstration in San Francisco to demand attention to the human rights situation in the Chinese Communist Party and a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. This is part of a worldwide campaign calling for a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
As the countdown to the Beijing Winter Olympics enters a year, there is a worldwide wave of boycotts of the Games, and on February 3, 180 human rights groups issued a joint open letter asking countries to boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics because of the CCP’s poor human rights record. Against this backdrop, on the morning of February 4, a number of Northern California ethnic groups gathered on Powell Street in San Francisco to boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Participating organizations included the East Bay Uyghur Culture Advancement Association, the San Francisco Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, and the San Francisco Regional Tibetan Youth Association. “San Francisco Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, the US HongKongers Club, and the Hong Kong People Hong Kongers in San Francisco Bay Area”, “Far East Freedom Youth League” and others. During the event, protesters displayed banners of various ethnic groups and banners calling for a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics and revealing the persecution of various ethnic groups by the Chinese Communist authorities, and chanted “No rights no game” and “Boycott Boycott Beijing Olympic” and other slogans. The demonstration lasted for two hours and attracted some local people to participate.
On February 4, 2021, on the first anniversary of the Beijing Winter Olympics, several groups from various ethnic groups in Northern California demonstrated on Powell Street in San Francisco to boycott the games. (Photo by Sun Cheng, exclusive premiere)
Adil Abrahai, president of the East Bay Uyghur Cultural Promotion Association, told reporters that he is boycotting the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics because mainland China is a human rights-free country that is brutally persecuting Uyghurs as an ethnic group. They are holding over three million Uighurs in concentration camps,” he said. So, there are no human rights, no freedom there. Such a country cannot host the Olympics or any kind of international event, and that’s why we are here to oppose the Beijing Olympics.”
“Omar, a member of the East Bay Uyghur Cultural Promotion Association, said the Chinese Communist Party is committing genocide against the Uyghur people and the world should know this: “The Olympics cannot be held in a country that is committing genocide.”
“Lobsang Dorji, president of the San Francisco area chapter of the Tibetan Youth Congress, told reporters, “We are here because next year, on February 4, 2022, Beijing will host the Winter Olympics. So, we will have a year to ask people of all ethnic groups in the world to boycott and not to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics. Today, February 4, is a beginning.”
Denzen, a Tibetan who was at the event, believes that people are doing the event to speak out for the rights of people of all ethnicities who are persecuted and threatened by the Chinese Communist authorities, and against the Chinese government that caused the spread of the new crown Epidemic last year. She said, “Therefore, people gathered here to demonstrate against the Chinese Communist Party’s Beijing Olympics and thus stop it.”
The scene of the event. (Courtesy of the Hong Kong People’s Association)
Dixon, the convener of the Hong Kong People’s Association, said people could not support the Beijing Winter Olympics because of the many human rights violations committed by the Chinese Communist Party. The significance of our boycott is very significant,” he said, “to let people around the world know that what the Chinese Communist Party is doing is wrong. Boycotting the Winter Olympics is the first step, and we hope that in the future we can do more sanctions [against the Chinese Communist authorities], and we hope that many countries can follow us in doing this.”
“Mr. Qin, convener of the Far East Youth Freedom League in Northern California, said that mainland China is not eligible to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, given the brutal national persecution policy being carried out by the Chinese Communist Party. We believe that they are not qualified to host the Olympic Games as a symbol of peace,” he said. We will also continue to speak out for the right to self-determination and human rights of the people of all ethnic groups persecuted by the Chinese Communist authorities.”
A local San Francisco resident named Daniel joined the demonstrators. He said that the persecution of Uyghurs by the Chinese Communist authorities is extremely cruel. In describing his purpose for joining the event, he said, “I am for the freedom of Uyghur Muslims, and of course the freedom of Tibetans, Hong Kong people, and Taiwanese people.”
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